Education 2023: KEVIN F. HALLOCK

Hallock, who joined UR as its president in 2021, launched a new strategic plan for the private university this year that includes more faculty, increased and simplified financial aid and greater community involvement.

In March, UR announced a $25 million gift — the second largest in the university’s history — from alumni and longtime donors Carole and Marcus Weinstein to fund a center focused on student learning at the school’s library. A $625,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute received in 2022 supports a six-year program to discover and address barriers that prevent students’ sense of belonging at the university.

As UR’s new president, Hallock dealt quickly with simmering controversy over two buildings named for people who were enslavers and/or supported racial segregation, including the university’s founding president. UR’s board voted to rename those buildings and four others last year.

Prior to his time at UR, Hallock spent 16 years at Cornell University, where he served as dean of the business college. A labor market economist with a Ph.D. from Princeton, he has authored or edited 11 books and more than 100 publications and is a co-founder of PayStandards, a software-as-a-service company.